Toronto continues public consultations on congestion, transit

No matter which mode of transportation is used, most commuters have a lot to say and the City of Toronto wants to hear what makes trekking across town so frustrating and what can be done to fix it.

The city kicked off its first “Feeling Congested?” public meeting Monday at the York Civic Centre at 2700 Eglinton Ave. W.

Meetings are also happening Wednesday at city hall and the Scarborough Civic Centre.

Click here for the full schedule.

The city also has a Feeling Congested website where residents can provide their feedback online and outline which methods they think would best fund transit, including sales, fuel or vehicle registration taxes, a congestion levy or highway tolls.

The public feedback will end up going to city council for consideration before it presents provincial transit agency Metrolinx with its next list of transit priorities for Toronto.

The next phase of the Feeling Congested consultations will take place between April and November. Phase two will deal with priority projects and phase three will concentrate on revenue-generating tools.

According to the Toronto Board of Trade, traffic congestion drains about $6 billion from the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) economy and that figure is set to nearly triple in the next 20 years if no action is taken.

Metrolinx is currently rolling out parts of its Big Move project, which include four new light-rail transit (LRT) lines on Eglinton, Sheppard and Finch avenues and the upgrade and extension of the Scarborough RT.

The Big Move  also includes the Toronto-York Spadina subway extension, expected to open in 2016, the Union-Pearson express, as well as other rapid transit projects around the GTA.

The public can weigh in on the transit issue also on Twitter @congestedTO and on Facebook.

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